The Path Of A Warrior
by Hokuto Ulrik
Summary: This was something that I wrote while on the road over here in Iraq. Please R&R. A better explanation than I can put here lies inside. A part of my New Destiny series.


_**The Path Of A Warrior**_

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sega of America, Team Sonic, MGM nor anything else associated with either franchise mentioned within.

_A/N: This is a story that I wrote over the course of three missions to Iraq. It is something that I got to thinking about and it is something that all combat veterans face. The outbreak of peace and what will happen to us when we are no longer needed to take up arms to defend our country, our families, our friends and ourselves. I know that the war over here is a touchy subject for most people but to me this is something that is equally important. There are those of us who have been over here so many times that they just can't get out of that warzone mentality. I myself find it hard to do. When I was told I was going to be deploying again for convoys, I noticed that I was slowly slipping into a place in my psyche that is reserved for times such as this, where nothing but the mission and the airmen and soldiers around me matter. I think that this place was always there because I am very loyal to those that I call family and friends but after the loss of a comrade and brother in arms in 2007, it became a place where I go when things get to stressful. It is a place where I am devoid of all emotion and feeling. As one of those motivational posters that people make from random photos I saw the last time I was here had a caption that read: "Remorse: the only thing you should feel when shooting insurgents is recoil." I know that many of you will probably flame me for this, but it is the truth. I myself have never had to fire my weapon in anger and I hope that I never have to. I hope that I never have to take that step over the line and have my hands become blood stained. I know that I have the capability to look down the barrel of my rifle and fire without hesitation, but I know that it would slowly kill my humanity. I'm thankful that I have a loving wife back in the states to keep me grounded and sane when times get tough, and just to be there when I need a kind smile, a word of encouragement, or a shoulder to cry on. Now I think that is time to get on with the story._

* * *

It's been ten years since I came back to Mobius.

In those ten years, I have seen the fall of a tyrant the disbandment of the Guardian Unit of Nations, and the establishment of the Mobius Stargate and Planetary Defense Command.

For eight of those years I have stood at the helm of one of the two most powerful military commands in the galaxy.

I suppose that I should feel honored to hold such a lofty position, I should be content with where I am at, but I'm not.

Over the past couple of years I've developed a familiar itch.

The need to go into combat once more.

At first, I was glad to be able to finally take a break from all the fighting and killing and have a chance to let the blood that stained my hands have a chance to dry, but I guess I just can't adapt to peace.

Peace.

The one thing that I hoped to help my home world obtain.

There have been times where I almost wish I hadn't set off that nuke and let Robotnik get away.

But I digress, things turned out for the best without him in the picture.

Sonic and I have been married for ten years now. We never did get a chance to finish our honeymoon.

I chuckle to myself when I remember the look on Zonic's face when he showed up and I pulled a gun on him. It was that day that Sonic really realized that I was the yin to his yang as it were. He was and still is that cool, smart talking speed demon while I am exactly what I appear to be. Something exotic and dangerous. Something that screams come and play, I don't bite, much.

It's part of the image that I inadvertently made for myself when we had to fight the G.U.N. when they refused to disband peacefully. A lot of the people in Station Square still remember me as the sexy, badass vixen that spoke softly and carried a really big gun.

Now I'm a mother. Hard to believe? I know it was for me when I found out I was pregnant with my first. We now have two wonderful daughters, Alexis and Naomi.

Alexis will be turning ten here in a couple of months and Naomi will be eight. Both of them have inherited their father's speed and their mother's twin tails. Yes, they can fly. I took me a while but when they were old enough I trained them to use their tails as transportation and as weapons. I don't want my girls to grow up defenseless like I did. The only downside is that they have their father's energy and it is a pain to get them worn out enough to go to bed.

I should feel content that I have a loving family and my children will hopefully never know war in their lifetimes, but they've both made it know that they want to follow in my footsteps and join the military.

I smile at that because since the Goauld and the Ori have been defeated in our galaxy and the Wraith have been eradicated from the Pegasus galaxy, the current American president has decided that it is time to go public with the Stargate program and lift the veil of secrecy that has surround the Stargate for over a decade.

I leave in about a month for earth with the newly refitted Mobius-class battlecrusier, _In Amber Clad. _When we land we will be landing at Andrews AFB, not our usual landing zone near Groom Lake in Nevada. The _Odyssey_, the _Daedalus,_ andthe newly repaired _Apollo _will be there as well. Since there hasn't been much action that required the use of the ships I took the opportunity to ground all of them for a complete over haul and upgrade. The _Amber_ is the first to roll out of the ship yard with the new modifications and performed admirably on her shakedown cruise.

I'm just nervous about the people of earth's reaction to me.

I mean how would you feel if you were just told that the most powerful military was really more powerful that they lead you to believe and that they had footholds on several dozen worlds, and alliances with hundreds more that had intelligent races on them. Then throw in the fact that an alien, someone who isn't even remotely human looking had been living on your world for ten years and was a bio-chemically augmented and surgically enhanced super soldier in aforementioned nation's military. Not to mention the fact that I am basically a walking weapon of mass destruction that no WMD on Earth can come close to the power and destructive force that I can put out, save one that I designed and have been able to keep from the military leadership. No need to tell them that I designed and built a planet killer nuke. Let them play with their gate-buster bombs, this one stays in storage until they have snowball fights in hell.

On the bright side of things though, I can introduce my family to the friends that I trusted enough to fight to get them the clearances necessary that I didn't have to hide after I "died."

Sighing, I get up from my desk and my blouse of the coat rack by the door. The really nice thing about being in command of a forward operating base, never having to wear my blues. I hat wearing that uniform and try to do it as little as possible. In fact, I won't be wearing my uniform when I go to Earth. Instead I will be wearing Mjolnir, its finish polished to a high sheen.

Heading out of my office, I come across my secretary Captain Stacy Ambrose.

"Heading out ma'am?" She asks me.

"Just need to get out of the office for a while Stac. The paperwork is driving me nuts." I replied as I buttoned my top.

"I can understand where you're coming from, I'm not even in command of anything and I'm eyeballs deep in paperwork and sinking fast some days."

We both had a good laugh at that. Stacy has come a long way since she first came to Mobius.

When I first saw the girl I felt sorry for her. Coated in frost from the transition through the gate, bout ready to toss her breakfast all over the ramp, and then she looks up to see her new boss checking to see if she was alright.

Needless to say it was a lot for the butter bar fresh from the academy to take. Seeing the gate, getting transported halfway across the galaxy in under a second, and then finding out that the person she would be working for wasn't even human.

Poor girl fainted and spent the better part of the day in the infirmary.

Nice to know that I still have that effect on people.

Stepping out of the headquarters building, I took a deep breath and caught the smells of the country side and the smells of military operations.

I smelt the pine trees and the crisp clean air from the mountains. I also smelt the burning of jet fuel, the distinct smell of metal being cut by a torch, and underneath it all my favorite smell in the world. Burning gunpowder. Not what you were expecting? Well get used to surprises with this vixen. I'm not just some pretty face that you try and pick up at the club. I'm more like a vampire. You can pick me up but how sure are you that I won't tear your throat out later on in the night.

You would probably have figured that the scents of the forest would relax me, but having spent so long on earth and so many years in the military, the day to day smells of that life are a comfort to me.

As I walked, a four ship of F-302s screamed overhead. I close my eyes and let the vibrations pass through my body as the stress melts away.

Jet noise. The true sound of freedom.

I opened my eyes began to walk around the base.

I made sure that my wing was on rotating shifts so that everyone had at least a couple of days off to enjoy life and recuperate from the stresses of our job. Unlike their CO, these people aren't super soldiers; they are normal humans and mobians who have taken on the call to protect not only this world but the entire galaxy from whatever threats may come forth.

I pass by the dorms when I hear a voice shouting.

"Watch out!"

I turn to see a soccer ball coming towards my face.

My hand moves on its own.

The next sound you hear is leather spinning on leather.

Everyone freezes expecting me to start yelling.

Instead they see me wave and point to the other end of the field at the goal and smile.

They turn in time to see the ball fly into the net and spin in place for a second before dropping to the ground.

I walk away with a wave over my shoulder and listening to stunned applause.

That is the reason if I play any sports it's usually one on ones with Sonic. This way we don't have to hold back our competitive streaks nor our true strength and speed.

As I left the dorm area I decide to head over to the ship yard to check the progress of the refits of the Mobius class fleet and more importantly the refit of the _Blue Typhoon_.

I had spent a good number of years trying to decide what I should do with my first starship. There were plenty of good memories about her, but there was just one bad memory that made me never want to enter the ship again.

I had considered just turning it into scrap metal to be used elsewhere on the base but something in the back of my mind said that was a really bad idea. More than likely it was Cosmo's spirit slapping me on the back of the head for being a dumbass and considering that as a viable option.

Then I thought about just making cosmetic repairs and making the ship a memorial to all those who have lost their lives in defense of the galaxy. But since there was one being planned for the national mall in DC, I decided that it would be a waste to make one here.

So I finally decided to have the ship refit and turned into an actual warship. I haven't set foot on her yet and I won't until the refit is complete.

I headed up to the foreman of the ship yard to get a status update.

"So how are things going with my girls Chief?" I asked

"Coming along smooth ma'am. The _Autumn_ will be finished here in about a week and the rest of the ships are about a week behind each other." He replied.

"Including the _Typhoon_?" I asked.

"No ma'am. The crew that is assigned to taking care of her is taking the process slow as not to disturb the spirits of the crew that were lost. We're all very superstitious out here ma'am. It's the best way to prevent unexplained problems."

"Don't worry chief, I understand. That was one of the reasons I didn't want to take on the challenge myself." I said as I bid him farewell and left the ship yard.

As the sounds of the ship yard faded behind me I decided to head over to the motor pool to see some of my friends from my transportation days.

As I approached the motor pool I could smell cooking meat. My stomach growled reminding me that I had skipped lunch, again.

I decided to stick around and stay awhile. As we waited for the food to finish we talked, joked, and remembered the good times as well as the bad. Before we started to eat, the chief stood and raised his drink to say a toast.

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming, it's good to see so many of us here, but before we get started on the food, let us take a moment to remember our brothers and sister back home who are still fighting and the brothers and sisters that we have lost along the way. Let us not forget the sacrifices that they made, and my they protect us from where ever they are now."

All of us raised our glasses and let out a "HOOAH!" that I was sure could be heard on the other side of the base.

I stayed for a bit longer and had a couple of burgers, knowing that Sally was coming by for dinner tonight, before heading home.

As I walked home I realized what was bugging me and why it bugged me.

After the long and often very bloody struggle to attain peace, I found that I wasn't ready for it and the changes that went along with it.

Now, I'm not saying that I want to go out and start a war just because I'm bored, but it seems like warriors such as me aren't suited for peace.

Pulling out my cell phone, I called my office and told Stacy to go ahead and close up shop early. After I hung up, I headed to my house.

I arrived home just in time to see Sonic and the girls come home from their afternoon run. After the girls tackled me and hugged me hard enough to break my ribs if they hadn't been reinforced years ago, I gave my husband a small kiss on the lips causing the girls to shriek about it being disgusting. Sonic and I smiled. They would learn just how nice it is to have the small things like the kiss of the one you love. As we walked into the house I told them to go and get cleaned up while I take care of dinner.

_Later that night… _

Sonic, Sally and I sat on the front porch later that evening watching the sunset and talking about our days as the Knothole Freedom Fighters. We were laughing about one of Robotnik's failed schemes when a massive blast rocked the area.

I pulled out my cell, anticipating the frantic call from the command post. I answered on the first ring and wished I hadn't. The first words out of the sergeant's mouth made my blood run cold. "He's back." Is all he said before hanging up and leaving me to listen to silence.

As I regained my composer and put my phone away, a twisted smile crept across my face as I pulled out my headphones and cued up my mp3 player.

Sonic and Sally turned to me and my husband asked, "What's wrong babe?"

"You aren't going to believe this one. Buttnik's back." I replied.

"Wait I thought you killed him. How is that possible?" Sally asked.

"Same way as he showed back up after ENDGAME. He's a zone alternate that probably killed his Sonic and is looking to expand his empire."

"So what do we do?" She asked me.

Turning to my azure speed demon I said, "I still got some fight left in me, how bout you shuga-hog?"

"Always my valkyrie." Sonic replied.

"Then let's do it to it. Sal watch the girls for us." I said as Sonic and I took off in a much practiced maneuver with twin thunderclaps trailing behind us as we quickly accelerated to Mach 1.

As we ran we passed by the rapidly forming defensive line of Hummvees, MRAPs and Strykers. The airmen and soldiers gave loud battle cries as twin streaks of blue and gold raced past, crisscrossing as we ran.

When we got to the first wave of attackers Sonic and I leapt into the air and began performing homing attacks. The first wave of SWAT bots went done quickly.

Then came a mixed wave of SWAT and Combots.

Sonic and I watched the slow movement of the bots towards our position.

"I'll take the SWATs if you got the Coms." Sonic said as he looked towards the enemy.

"Hmph, always giving me the easy work." I said as I pulled on a pair of knuckle buster gloves that I had cut the fingertips off of.

"Some things never change do they?"

"They do. Just they usually get worse before they get better." I replied as I charged my Chaos Cannon ability.

With a sideways glance at each other, we charged into the fray. Sonic used a variety of kicks, spin dashes, and homing attacks to reduce the SWAT bots to scrap; while I blasted, speared, tail whipped, and punched my way through the Com Bots.

In less than ten minutes the assault was broken.

We stood on the pile of scrap that was once Robotnik's blitzkrieg force. We scanned the area for the maniac but he was nowhere to be found.

"The coward is probably hiding in his base somewhere." Sonic growled.

"Yeah he probably is. But let's leave that for another day." I replied as I wrapped an arm around my husband's waist as he did the same to me.

We stood there watching the last rays of the sun fade, as twilight descended something came to my mind.

"We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!" I whispered quietly.

"What was that babe?" Sonic asked me

"Part of a monologue from a really good movie back on earth." I replied as I heard the scream of fireworks launching. I laughed as it hit what day today was and how appropriate that quote was for the situation.

July 4th. Independence Day.

As the fireworks exploded over our head bathing us in a variety of colors, our lips met in a passionate kiss. When we parted we turned and looked out over the base and the people celebrating our small victory tonight.

As I looked over my base, I felt a fire inside me reignite. This new war would be long and hard fought, but we would persevere.

This is my story. My name is Kerra Prower. I am a lover, a wife, a mother, and above all that I am a warrior. I am a Spartan.

I will never falter and I will never fail.

Most of all I will never die, so long as someone remembers me and the sacrifices that I made for freedom and all that is good and just in this galaxy.

* * *

_There you have it. That's what came out when I got to thinking of peace. Invisible Sonic plushie of your choice if you can tell me the movie and scene that the quote is from._

_Hokuto Ulrik out._


End file.
